History of Hotel Real La Merced – Granada Nicaragua

Granada, its history, its stately old buildings and its resurgence as a tourist destination are what make its inhabitants so proud. That is why a family from Granada decided to restore an old colonial mansion that time destroyed and had almost forgotten, today shines as it did in its glory years and its impressive architecture rises in the corner of the Calle Real and welcomes visitors to its historic city. With a history that is literally the collapse and oblivion of the last century, the Hotel is now the splendor, the comfort and maximum efficiency of the XXI Century.

The original building, according to records, was first built at the beginning of 1900s as a mansion that was constructed by Dr. Alejandro César for his family.

Taking the neoclassical style with columns, arches and moldings which were so carefully crafted, was called “Caesar’s household”. Later the building was taken over by the Chamorro family for a short time before being acquired by the Zampieri family, being known until 2014 as Casa Zampieri. This family of Italian origin added to the house which would be the first swimming pool of Granada.

The meeting of the grandeur of the past with all the comfort advantages of modern day, was not casual. The reconstruction of the building was carefully planned respecting the original plan, with the proportions of the rooms with high ceilings, but adding a second floor to the back of the mansion identical to the original style, plus all the technology of climate services and connectivity of a hotel of international quality. The new owners of this property since 2012 have overcome ” the violence of time” and rebuilt one of the most beautiful and representative mansions of Granada , whose majestic presence highlights the intersection of the Calle Real and Avenue September 14.

The furniture in the social areas are all antiques, purchased from collectors and local families to recreate the original spirit of the house, in other cases such as lamps, ceiling and doors are replicas of the originals.

All construction around the central courtyard, where the pool is located, was also designed by architect Mario Favilli, who also designed the monument to Ruben Dario in Managua.

From its rooms and balconies of the hotel can be seen the tower of the Church of La Merced where the founders of the Vanguard gathered in Granada : Joaquín Pasos, José Coronel Urtecho, Manolo Cuadra and Carmen Sobalvarro, among others, according to the narrative poet Ernesto Cardenal, not forgetting to mention the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti. This is referring to the Vanguard Literary Movement which developed between 1927 and 1933, renewing and influencing the country poetry and literature after forty years of Modernism and the heavy influence of Rubén Darío on Nicaraguan poetry.

The monumental staircase of marmolina was installed, commissioned by the Italian architect Mario Favilli which was brought in parts from Italy in 1930. For decades it was the setting for the official photos of quinceañeras and Granada couples. Quinceañeras, also called fiesta de quince años, fiesta de quinceañera, quince años, quinceañero or simply quince, is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday with cultural roots in Latin America but celebrated throughout the Americas.

Guests of Hotel Real La Merced, are a short distance from the city center, close to the main attractions, but in an environment free of noise pollution. In the 80s the house was declared a World Heritage Site by the Ministry of Culture, was used as the setting for a movie and later deteriorated, so it had to be completely rebuilt.

It would be our pleasure for you to visit our beautiful, restored hotel.

2 Comments

Michael

April 13, 2017 at 8:58 am

Very interesting article.

Shame about the terrible website. It assumes you want it in Spanish with no obvious way to change it. Very bad assumption. The left sidebar is almost impossible to read with little contrast between text and background. The message box a the bottom only shows one line of very small and threw up an error when I tried to enter a message. I gave up.

Fantastic looking hotel though! Will definitely pop in soon for a drink!

A ѕimple solution: А fіxed hose mattress from 2 1/4″ or similar size pipe with a gated wye or reducer to supply 1 3/0″ tube that iѕ actuaⅼly releasᥱɗ in ɑddition to the 4 1/6″ tube. This evolution must be actually effectively understood and also pierced on before implementation.